claurel
New member
Just before Christmas my friends Adrianne and Josh alerted me to a last minute special from Mustang Powder, a new snowcat operation in the Monashee Mountains of BC. All of us had done heli day trips before, but we'd never been snowcat skiing. With the great pricing and the excellent conditions in western Canada, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give snowcats a whirl.
Mustang Powder lodge is located near Revelstoke, a little over seven hours drive from Seattle not counting stops. From the meeting point on the Trans Canada Highway we traveled one hour by bus and 45 minutes by snowcat up to the lodge at an elevation of 5700 feet. My single room was small, with just enough room for a bed and a sink. I shared a shower with just one other single room (a luxury that I'm told is not that common among snowcat lodges.) The common area of the lodge was very comfortable and attractive--most of the 24 guests congregated either here or in the hot tub when we weren't skiing.
On each of our three ski days, two snowcats were running, each with a driver, lead guide, tail guide, and half the guests. The first day started out with high clouds, but we had blue skies by the end of the day. The snow was light and bottomless, with face shots galore. At the time of our visit, there were ten feet of snow on the ground around the lodge. Just as important, the snowpack was extremely stable. Our guides were cautious, but we were able to ride almost any slope that we wanted, and never once saw any avalanche warning signs. There was little avy debris anywhere on the slopes; the guides confirmed that they had yet to see a real avalanche cycle this season. Mustang Powder has a large amount of alpine terrain for a snowcat operation. Unfortunately we stayed below the treeline almost all the time because a wind event had hit the area the day before our arrival and scoured the snow from the higher, exposed areas. I'm not complaining too much--the trees were incredible--but I'd loved to have slashed some huge, fast turns in the Monashee alpine.
I appreciated how accommodating our guides were. A few of us wanted to huck some cliffs on the last day. They guides led us to a run called "The Hedge" with a nice rock band for the huckers and a gentle gladed detour for the folks who didn't feel like making craters of their own. When we asked for steep, we got steep; when we wanted tight trees, we got tight trees; and when our legs were wearing out at the end of the day, we rode some gentler, more open runs. Given the relatively large group size, I was impressed with how well this worked out. Some other highlights were runs through beautiful old-growth cedar forest, and a nice steep open pitch down to Heart Lake. We averaged about 2000 vertical for each run, with about 12 runs per day (10 on the first day because we spent time on transceiver and snowcat safety talks.)
I need to add few words about how well we were treated by the staff at Mustang Powder. The owners, Nick and Ali, were there to greet us when we arrived, and we had the pleasure of sharing a dinner table with them the first night. When Nick wished us goodbye after the last day of skiing, he got a round of applause from all of the guests. I can't say enough good things about Dom, the lodge bartender who decided to host a tasting of BC wines on our second night. And our great guides, Larry, Bruno, Paul, . . .
Needless to say, I'm already trying to round up a group to go cat skiing/boarding next year. I'm inclined to go with Mustang Powder again, since we only rode a small fraction of their 120 km^2 area. But I've also heard very good things about Chatter Creek, so I'm eagerly awaiting that report.
--Chris
Mustang Powder lodge is located near Revelstoke, a little over seven hours drive from Seattle not counting stops. From the meeting point on the Trans Canada Highway we traveled one hour by bus and 45 minutes by snowcat up to the lodge at an elevation of 5700 feet. My single room was small, with just enough room for a bed and a sink. I shared a shower with just one other single room (a luxury that I'm told is not that common among snowcat lodges.) The common area of the lodge was very comfortable and attractive--most of the 24 guests congregated either here or in the hot tub when we weren't skiing.
On each of our three ski days, two snowcats were running, each with a driver, lead guide, tail guide, and half the guests. The first day started out with high clouds, but we had blue skies by the end of the day. The snow was light and bottomless, with face shots galore. At the time of our visit, there were ten feet of snow on the ground around the lodge. Just as important, the snowpack was extremely stable. Our guides were cautious, but we were able to ride almost any slope that we wanted, and never once saw any avalanche warning signs. There was little avy debris anywhere on the slopes; the guides confirmed that they had yet to see a real avalanche cycle this season. Mustang Powder has a large amount of alpine terrain for a snowcat operation. Unfortunately we stayed below the treeline almost all the time because a wind event had hit the area the day before our arrival and scoured the snow from the higher, exposed areas. I'm not complaining too much--the trees were incredible--but I'd loved to have slashed some huge, fast turns in the Monashee alpine.
I appreciated how accommodating our guides were. A few of us wanted to huck some cliffs on the last day. They guides led us to a run called "The Hedge" with a nice rock band for the huckers and a gentle gladed detour for the folks who didn't feel like making craters of their own. When we asked for steep, we got steep; when we wanted tight trees, we got tight trees; and when our legs were wearing out at the end of the day, we rode some gentler, more open runs. Given the relatively large group size, I was impressed with how well this worked out. Some other highlights were runs through beautiful old-growth cedar forest, and a nice steep open pitch down to Heart Lake. We averaged about 2000 vertical for each run, with about 12 runs per day (10 on the first day because we spent time on transceiver and snowcat safety talks.)
I need to add few words about how well we were treated by the staff at Mustang Powder. The owners, Nick and Ali, were there to greet us when we arrived, and we had the pleasure of sharing a dinner table with them the first night. When Nick wished us goodbye after the last day of skiing, he got a round of applause from all of the guests. I can't say enough good things about Dom, the lodge bartender who decided to host a tasting of BC wines on our second night. And our great guides, Larry, Bruno, Paul, . . .
Needless to say, I'm already trying to round up a group to go cat skiing/boarding next year. I'm inclined to go with Mustang Powder again, since we only rode a small fraction of their 120 km^2 area. But I've also heard very good things about Chatter Creek, so I'm eagerly awaiting that report.
--Chris
